Shutdown Puts Big Business, Labor on Same Page

The government shutdown hasn’t unified the GOP and Democrats — but it managed Friday to bring union and business officials together.

In a rare show of unity, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO sent a joint letter to President Barack Obama and Congress urging an end to the shutdown “immediately” –and warning of a slide back into recession.

Even the letter’s authors couldn’t deny that they are often at odds.

“While we may disagree on priorities for federal policies and we even have conflicting views about many issues, we are in complete agreement that the current shutdown is harmful and the risk of default is potentially catastrophic for our fragile economy,” the officials said in the letter signed by U.S. Chamber President Thomas Donohue and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. Stacey Stewart, the U.S. president of the United Way Worldwide, also signed on.

The officials said the shutdown is harming large and small businesses, the workforce (“especially federal workers”) and people who rely on public and privately funded social services. Communities at-large are also being bruised, they said.

“The federal government is our nation’s largest consumer of goods and services, our largest employer, and the single largest source of financial support for state and local governments and for private social services,” they said. If the shutdown drags on too much longer, “our economy could be driven back into a recession,” they said before making their final plea: “We urge all of our leaders in Washington to set aside the many issues we disagree about, reach across the aisle and end the shutdown and the threat of a national default.”

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